QuickStats About Housing

• Home ownership has been declining since 1991. In the past 20 years, home ownership was highest in the 1991 Census, at 73.8 percent (although caution should be used when comparing home ownership trends with 2006 Census figures, due to the introduction of the new 'family trust' category).

• In 2006, 66.9 percent of households in private occupied dwellings either owned the dwelling they lived in or held that dwelling in a family trust, with 54.5 percent of households owning the dwelling they lived in, and 12.3 percent of households holding the dwelling in a family trust.
• Of dwellings held in a family trust, 52.9 percent were held without mortgage payments.

• In 2006, one in three households (33.1 percent) did not own the dwelling they lived in. This proportion has increased over the past decade from 32.2 percent in 2001 and 29.3 percent in 1996.
• Most households who did not own the dwelling they lived in made weekly rent payments (85.9 percent). A small proportion (12.7 percent) of households who did not own the dwelling they lived in, occupied the dwelling rent free, while rental arrangements were not stated for the remainder (1.4 percent) of households who did not own the dwelling they lived in.

Ownership by region/territorial authority

• Of the regional council areas, the Tasman and West Coast regions had the highest proportion of owned dwellings (62.7 percent and 61.9 percent, respectively). The Auckland Region had the lowest proportion of owned dwellings, at 50.7 percent.

• Of the owned dwellings, Northland Region had the highest proportion of dwellings owned without a mortgage (49.3 percent). This is partly related to the older age structure of the region.
• Of the territorial authorities, Waimakariri District had the highest proportion of dwellings owned, with or without a mortgage, for a territorial authority (70.6 percent). Queenstown-Lakes and Western Bay of Plenty districts had the highest proportion of dwellings held in a family trust (21.9 and 20.8 percent, respectively).

Ownership by total household income

• Approximately three out of five households (59.9 percent) with a total household income of $50,000 or under either owned the dwelling they lived in or held the dwelling in a family trust, compared with 76.5 percent of households with a total household income greater than $50,000.
• In 2006, 61.2 percent of households who did not own the dwelling they lived in had a total household income of $50,000 or less.